Shadowed Pactmaster SS (26), Wlk (1), C (1), SD (2)
Description Spirit Shaman (26), Warlock (1), Cleric (1), Shadowdancer 2 Looking through the character builds, I noticed one disturbing thing - no one had made a Spirit Shaman based build. Well, I rolled up my sleeves and decided to get to it. The Shadowed Pactmaster is a Spirit Shaman natural spellcaster with a full 30 caster level, high spell DCs, and HiPS. Her pacts have not been limited to spirits, fey, and elementals, she has made arrangements even with Gods and Devils to enhance her powers. Pros *As mentioned, a natural Spellcaster with full level 30 spellcasting and fairly high DCs *Achieves level 2 shadowdancer feats including the infamous HiPS, Evasion, and Uncanny Dodge. Access to Camouflage to buff Hide *Can be fully armored with access to medium armor, heavy armor, and shields, though HiPS is best used with low armor check penalties. *Mobility helps with attacks of opportunity *Good saves thanks to Dark One's Own Luck (among other bonuses) *Cleric domain bonuses, divine shield with high Charisma *Fairly High UMD *Full Spirit Shaman bonuses including the potent Favored of the Spirits and Spirit Journey as an emergency defense. Follow the Guide combined with great will saves and Spirit Who Walks makes you nearly untouchable by enchantment effects *Can achieve good AC with Tortoise Shell (used with Freedom of Movement), shields, and Divine Shield. Also has access to Foundation of Stone and Storm Avatar for knockdown immunity. Combined with the aforementioned HiPS, decent saves and evasion this build is fairly capable defensively. *Knockdown immunity combined with Protection from Alignment from cleric level allows some defense from Bigby's Forceful Hand from good/evil mages *Unlike most offensive spellcasters has access to some good healing spells including extended Regeneration and Heal *Roleplays fairly well - consistent as a Human bargaining with powers for power. Not as cheesy as some builds, as much as we all like to play as Drow Favored Soul Red Dragon Disciples born with a Luck of Heroes for good measure *Good campaign playability. No experience penalties, HiPS by level 20. In MotB your class is redundant with Gann's but that doesn't necessarily hurt. Dropping the Spot/listen skill and using those points for conversation skills instead completes the campaign playablity. Cons *Something of an excess of skill points early on, very tight skill points after Shadowdancer levels are taken at CL 19 *As-is needs wisdom-boosting equipment to access higher level spells. Fortunately can self-buff natural AC leaving the pendant equipment slot open. If desired you have enough Charisma that you may move your pre-epic levels into Wisdom for lower magic worlds without greatly affecting the build. *Poor melee. Basic strength/dex and final BAB is 20 - worse than medium BAB, and doesn't achieve the 5th attack. Natural Spellcasters don't have access to Divine Power to make up for it, therefore. . . *Your offense relies on your spells, which is not always ideal depending on the enemy. Natural spellcasters have a bit of a lack of good direct damage spells like disintegrate, Missile Storm, horrid wilting, etc. One of the only good non-reflex-save direct damage spells is Extract Water Elemental, which leaves your level 6 spell choices a bit tight *Spell Resistance may be troublesome *Lowish dexterity and armor check penalties hinder Hide/Move Silently compared to a dedicated stealth build *Low Constitution *Misses Stone/Iron body for uncapped damage reduction and great immunities. Even divine builds get Stone Body, and even Druids can get Oaken Resilience *Also missing the extremely useful spell mantles and spell breach/assay resistance. No Mind Blank, leaving a weakness to Forceful Hand daze effects from neutral spellcasters without immunity: mind affect equipment. Natural spellcasters are at something of a disadvantage in some mage duels Character Creation *AC is represented with Luck of Heroes, Dodge, and assumes 30 Tumble *'Background': Wild Child, whatever *'Saves Breakdown': **F:(-1)+15+2+1+10 = 27 **R:1+8+3+1+10 = 23 **W:2+15+2+2+1+10 = 32 ***Includes Dark One's Own Luck ***Equipment not included, +CHA equipment will boost all saves through Dark One's Own Luck ***Can be boosted further by self-buffs, not included. Greater Resistance adds +3 to all saves for 24 hours, Superior Resistance adds +6 to all saves ***Spellcraft is also not included. This will add up to +6 to saves vs spells *'HP': 30-30+(8x26)+6+8+(2x8)=238 Skills Well, your skill situation is a little bit complicated. Try to avoid spending skills cross-class at level 1, though you will probably have to spend a few. Below is the numbers I ended up with which can be used as a rough guide so you know where your skills can be spent at and where they may end up depending on what you concentrate most on. Max Hide and Move Silently, get Tumble to 30. Other than that the rest are somewhat at your discretion. Key skills are: Concentration, Hide, Move Silently, Spellcraft, Spot or Listen, Tumble, and Use Magic Device. My Skills *Concentration:31 *Diplomacy:16 (I used this as my "dump" for when I had excess points before the Shadow Dancer levels) *Heal:3 (from level 1) *Hide:33 *Move Silently:33 *Spellcraft: 30 *Spot/Listen: 33 (Pick one of these. Listen provides better stealth detection as Camouflage and Spider Skin provide bonuses to Hide only. Spot helps protect from feint as well as helping detect stealth) *Tumble:30 (points beyond 30 still help with attacks of opportunity while spellcasting) *Use Magic Device:20 **Remember to save 5 skill points before your Shadow Dancer levels **Campaign players may benefit by ignoring Spot/Listen and placing those skill points in conversation skills Build Progression Category:Character builds Category:Divine Character builds Category:Power Builds Category:Roleplaying Builds *'Variation:' Take 2 levels of Warlock and 1 level of Shadowdancer **You'll lose Evasion and Uncanny Dodge from Shadowdancer. You'll also lose some skill points (right when you need them most, btw). In exchange you can get another Warlock invocation - Entropic Warding. This invocation boosts both Move Silently and Hide by 4. Also it adds a 20% concealment from ranged attacks. **You can take the Water domain on your Cleric level and retain Evasion, but you'll miss out on whatever Cleric domain you give up (probably Toughness). *Feats after 20, the Great Charismas, are optional. Other good choices include Extend spell, Epic Toughness and Epic Resilience, Spell Focus: Transmutation or Evocation (greater, epic), etc. **A few points of Charisma lost isn't a huge deal, but keep in mind that Charisma in this build boosts not only essential Spell DCs but Divine Shield (AC and Duration) and Saves too. You want lots and lots of Charisma. AC and DC info Armor Class: 10 (base) + 5 (Mithril Breastplate) + 1 (light shield) + 10 (Divine Shield) + 12 Tortoise Shell + 1 (Dex) + 3 (Tumble) + 1 (LoH) + 1 (Dodge) = 44 AC *Basic Defense, only Divine Shield and Tortoise Shell active. Cat's Grace adds +2 AC *Armor Check Penalty: -2 Armor Class 2: 10 (Base) + 13 (Mithril BPlate +8) + 9 (light shield +8) + 15 (Dodge maxes with Divine Shield and monk boots. Hell, maxes with Divine Shield + Cha equipment + Dodge feat, leaving room for Kitten Slippers to boost Move Silently making a very capable stealth build combined with Camouflage) + 12 Tortoise Shield + 5 (Dex) + 3 (Tumble) + 1 (LoH) + 8 (Deflection) = 76 AC *Defense with BotB equipment *+2 AC with Bracers of Armor + 10 *ACP: -2 Spell Difficulty Class: 10/14 (Charisma bonus/CHA bonus with +8 equipment) + 3 (level 30 caster) +1 (Spellcasting Prodigy) = +14/18 By Stuflames